Thoughts on the best approach for astrophotography rig

[6footgeek]

Hey everybody! I am going to the SGL start party in October and I would very much like to take my own imaging rig with me. If you have time, settle down for story time and ill explain my thoughts and questions!

So, I shall set the scene. I currently have an amazon basics tripod and a ball head mount with a Canon 450D with the stock 18-55mm lens. I started just taking lots of pictures of the Big Dipper as its right there in a cloudless sky! I have been using DSS to stack my images and processing in Lightroom with good results (I think). I feel I am ready to move onto tracked shots now, as I am just not getting enough light in to process the details out of these images with an exposure time of less than 30 seconds and smaller.

I live in Birmingham (Solihull specifically) so the light pollution is always there, but I understand I can get a camera filter which will help and Im also moving house to a darker area. This is the easy stuff 

Budget: ~£650.

Now down to the meat and gravy: I have decided through extensive research that the 130pds will be great for my needs, its fairly light, is optimal for a DSLR and basically ticks all of the boxes for imaging from the lovely 130pds thread over here:

So that leaves the mount. If I hadn’t just bought a new house, I would just go for a HEQ5 and be done with it. Unfortunately, I have just bought a house (yay!), but this means my spare money has been reduced. I love going camping and will want a mount that I can take out into the backyard, but also that I can stick in the car and take with me up a big hill if the occasion calls for it. Eventually, I want to control this entire setup from a laptop, so will want the ability to guide this. Im open to hacking / building parts of this out, Im capable of such hacks so if it can be done - ill do it!

This realistically leaves me with 3 options for mounts within my budget, depending on adding.

The EQ3-2
The EQ5
The EQ35-m
The EQ35 promises much smoother tracking with goto but kind of blows my whole budget and ill be stuck without a scope for a while. But allows more payload than the EQ3-2.

The EQ3-2 has lower weight but from what I have read, and my certainty that this 130pds will fulfil my needs for the next 3 years is cool, but I can get the GOTO version, or get the normal version and add the ‘enhanced motors’ for ~£109 which will let me build out the guiding with the ST4 port.

The EQ5 has the same options as the EQ3-2 with more payload so I can future proof a bit.

Another option is to get the EQ5 and a 130pds with a extender for visual use for a month or so and then I can either get the full GOTO or enhanced motors kit.

So, to summarise - I know the scope I want, I have a rough idea of the mounts I want / need. And I have no idea whatsoever about the best way to achieve tracked shots (be that via GOTO or the enhanced motors kit)

So, Thats the situation, thoughts and advice please, much appreciated!

[spillage]

Hi and welcome,

An idea of budget might help us a bit but I get the feeling you are looking a new kit. Have you looked at the second hand market? You can pick up a second hand heq5 for less than a brand new eq35.

Also have a look a buying Making every photon count is a good start.

[6footgeek]

Hey Excellent point - ill update main post - budget is around £650.

[Demonperformer]

Hi, and welcome to SGL.

I have not used any of the mounts you list so my advice can only be general. Where mounts are concerned for imaging, you do not want to be going anywhere near the weight limit. Many people use an NEQ6 for a small refractor! You say the EQ35 will provide smoother tracking ... this is a key priority for AP. So I would say that if you can't really fork out for this, then go for the EQ5 over the EQ3-2, on the grounds that it will have more appeal when you sell it to upgrade (and you will).

+1 for MEPC

BTW: 'INSERT LINK' ?

[spillage]

It would be very tight on that budget but:

heq5 400-500 

130 pds 100

coma corrector if wanted  about 100.

or

swed80 250

the mount and scope would be second hand, but 130's do not come up that often.  The ed80 seems allot more popular but I think you will need a flattener and this would be another few pounds.

Using you existing dslr you may even scrape in a guide scope and guide cam. 

[kendg]

First, the book Making every photon count is a good start. is a great start. 

You might want to consider the Star Adventurer mount and continue using your camera.

[upahill]

When i was looking recently I was seeing EQ5 GOTO mounts going for around the £350-450 mark second hand, and picked up a EQ6 for £600 which I went for purely to future proof a little more.

The consensus I got when researching was "put your money where your mount is".

 

[adyj1]

@6footgeek I am running a 150PDS on an EQ5 . I started with enhanced motors on the EQ5 and once I could afford it upgraded to a DIY stepper motor conversion with AstroEQ for full PC-controlled GOTO (which involved loads of tinkering). For the beginner astrophotographer on a budget, my best advice would be to buy things that you can eventually sell on at a reasonable price - you'll be upgrading everything in due course...  ?

I would have thought the challenge for you will be to get the kit you want in the time left before the Star Party - you'll have to trawl the for sale here and Astro buy&sell and wait for the kit you want to come up at a price you are happy with. If your budget is strict, bear in mind to leave a bit of things like the adapter for your DSLR and - if you aren't starting with PC control - an intervalometer for the camera. 

Hope that helps, and see you there!

Ady

 

 

[RolandKol]

I would afraid to go for anything lower than HEQ5, - I would start from this mount only, and even second hand if needed

1) cheaper mounts are mainly for visual, plus - it would be much more difficult to re-sell them as not so popular.

2) 130PDS and Coma Corrector - are not so expensive, - you will manage to save such a mount in a while or

3) Go for Samyang 135mm Lens instead of the scope! You will have very light set up and VERY VERY nice images

P.S. I have NEQ6 + 130PDS and looking forward to play with my Canon and Nifty Fifty only  

[Demonperformer]

 

[carastro]

Personally I would not sacrifice the right mount in order to get a telescope as well in time for the SGL star party. 

If you can't pick up an HEQ5 and scope second hand within your budget I'd just get the mount and use your canon camera and lens for the star party but with tracking on the mount so you can get longer subs.  Then when you've saved up a bit more get the scope you want. 

But if you can get both within your budget second hand, I'd recommend the SW130PDS and HEQ5.  Don;t forget you are going to need a guide camera as well (the finderscope can be converted to a finderguider).

Carole 

[6footgeek]

Thanks for all the great information everybody. Ok. Maybe I should just plough everything into a heq5 and stick the camera on top - I have great fun with just the camera on a static mount so I’m sure this will be great regardless of a scope to stick on top!

lots to think about thank you all!!!

[Derek1973]

I'm trying to decide on a mount as well and I'm leaning towards the eqm-35 due to the lower weight, I know it won't be as good for AP as likes of Heq5 but think it will fit my needs for both visual and some AP. Being new to AP and being on a budget I don't want to spend much over £500 on mount as I've other bits to purchase ontop like guide scope or finder and flattener. So that's another £250+ for what I want. Already spent £400 on a nearly new altair astro 80ed r and £100 on nice red altair astro 90deg dielectric. I want the finder to be the same brand as well. Its also important to me due to health issues that the mount is easy to move in and out the house and into the car, that's a big priority as if it's not manageable for me then whole thing will be useless. One thing I've learned is this can get expensive pretty quickly. ?

[Tristan]

A little over budget (although you might be able to pick them up second hand), I've just got a HEQ5 mount and EvoStar 80ED to use for astro photography. 

[6footgeek]

So I managed to go off on a wild tangent from the advice offered here. ?

I managed to acquire a second hand Sky-Watcher eq3-2 and a 150p package for £135 which was too good not to pick up - especially as the star party is so soon and I needed something to use!

So, I have picked up making every photon count and am now on my way to exploring my options with this much cheaper mount. As I’m just playing around with this mount I can experiment heavily with it ?, my expectations are super low, but I’m happy about the plan so far! Auto guiding is next!

meanwhile, I’ll be saving up for the more heavy duty heq5 and working out which direction I want to go in next!